The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has admitted to having a “difference of opinion” with Boeing during a discussion over the return plan for astronauts Sunita Williams and Bitch Wilmore.
Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Commercial Crew Program, said at a news conference Wednesday night that “it was a difficult decision to make” and that “It was really difficult to decide whether we should leave the crew or not.”
“I would say that the teams were very divided… and [due to the] uncertainty regarding the propellant… the NASA team decided to return Butch and Suni to Earth. [SpaceX] “Dragon,” Stich said.
When asked if there was “Heavy discussions” or “almost a shouting match” Among the NASA and Boeing teams during the meeting, Stitch said, “I wouldn’t say it was a shouting match… it was a tense technical discussion…” Stitch said.
“The last meeting we had, where we talked about technical data of the different positions and analysis…I wouldn’t characterize it as heated…“Whenever you’re in a meeting of this magnitude where there’s this kind of decision, there’s a certain amount of tension in the room,” Stitch added.
To explain the problem in more detail, the A NASA official said Boeing believed in the model they had designed. had created that attempted to protect the propellant from degradation for the remainder of the flight.
But “the NASA team looked at the model and I saw some limitations in it“It really had to do with whether we really trust the thrusters and how much we can protect our degradation from undocking through deorbital burn. The NASA team, because of uncertainty in the modeling, couldn’t get comfortable with that,” Stich said.
Meanwhile, Dana Weigel, manager of the International Space Station, explained Boeing’s perspective, saying that Boeing “is in a slightly different position in terms of our understanding of the risks.” and what is available to us without Starliner.”
“So That is also a reason for the difference of opinions.…Boeing also previously said that… they can’t influence that part of the agency (NASA),” Weigel said.
NASA has decided to return Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to Earth without crew members Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore due to uncertainties with the spacecraft.
NASA said Wednesday that the Starliner capsule is on track to undock from the space station Friday evening. The fully automated capsule will head for a landing at New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range six hours later.
Meanwhile, the two NASA astronauts who flew on Starliner will remain in the orbiting laboratory. They will return home with SpaceX in February 2025eight months after the launch of what was supposed to have been a week-long test flight.
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this post is for general information purposes only. We make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the post for any purpose.
We respect the intellectual property rights of content creators. If you are the owner of any material featured on our website and have concerns about its use, please contact us. We are committed to addressing any copyright issues promptly and will remove any material within 2 days of receiving a request from the rightful owner.